Damn this wind, I think, just as a thunderous roaring gust nearly knocks me off my feet–nearly blows me backwards off Mt. Shavano’s 14,229-foot summit. A quick boulder clutch with mittened hands saves me but in the process I gouge my knee on a pointed rock — you know, bang it in that really special place.

“Ouch,” I say, feeling dizzy, pressing my face against the boulder’s icy shoulder. Well maybe not “ouch,” but something like that.

Storm clouds swirl around us. Pellets of wind whipped snow rattle against our clothing. I’m wondering if I can even walk with the painful twinge in my knee. The bite valve on my hydration bladder is frozen solid.

Beauty all around. Stillwater Canyon on the Green River, Canyonlands National Park.

There are lots of cool and interesting things to see and do while kayaking the Green River through Utah’s Labyrinth and Stillwater Canyons.

Dozens of Anasazi ruins — including the two-story lookout tower at Ft. Bottom — are tucked away among the cliffs. There are petroglyph panels decorated with horned gods and mysterious messages. There’s Register Rock, the Bowknot Bend “post office” and the outlaw cabin supposedly used by Butch and Sundance in their horse thieving days. Numerous side canyons offer hikes into the secret delights of places like Upheaval Dome and the surreal landscapes of The Doll’s House and the Maze in Canyonlands National Park.

Initially our plan for a kayaking trip down the Green exuded mellowness. Tom Brown and I would launch at Ruby Ranch north of Moab and leisurely paddle and drift for five days and one hundred miles to Spanish Bottom below the Green and Colorado River’s confluence. Along the way we’d see the canyon sights, do some hikes, lay around like lizards on the beaches, grow fat on all the food we’d brought and become so carefree, lazy and indolent, we’d forget our names. With so much contemplative time all the mysteries of life would be solved.

Instead we ended up paddling through the canyons as if pursued by howling horned gods.

The pursuit of a healthier state through better living. The Denver Post's ColoradoFit blog features local experts on the latest fitness trends, active lifestyles and nutrition options in Colorado and beyond.